Web Standards

Guiding Principles

Valencia College recognizes the value of publishing on the World
Wide Web (WWW) and encourages the development of WWW content that supports
the mission of the college and approved strategic planning directions.

The quality of information published by the college plays an important role
in presenting the college to the community and maintaining its reputation
and image as a major educational institution in the Orlando area. This document
sets forth minimum standards that are meant to ensure that information published
electronically is visually appealing, well-written and follows the same high
standards as other forms of published information. The standards are necessary
to give
the Valencia Web site uniformity so it represents one institution, while at the
same time allowing the site to be both interesting and an expression of our
multiple initiatives.

Web Content Placement

The Valencia College Web site contains a lot of information and must be organized in a way to help
our audiences find what they are looking for. To do this we have set up a table that defines four
types of content and pairs them with the content delivery tools available at Valencia. These tools can
be used for each type of content by asking two questions: Who is the audience? And what type of
access is required? Once these two answers are determined, we can direct clients to place content into
one of these four areas or tools.

The Valencia “Look & Feel”

The look of the Valencia Web site has been designed with
the end user in mind. It is easy to navigate to find what
you need quickly.
If your area were to stray from this look & feel, you
could confuse the user and they may think that they are
not
at a Valencia site at first glance. The user could also think
your web pages are out of date. We want to keep the Valencia
web areas consistent in their look & layout so the user
gets used to the interface and gets comfortable enough to
easily
find their way around to the information they need.

Navigation
Valencia has four key areas present in each
web area that have links to get to other areas and areas within
your web. They are the header, the footer, the breadcrumbs
and the local navigation. Some sites may have a sub-local
navigation due to deeper levels of information in that area.

The header is at the top of every page and has links to
the main areas of the Valencia site: the homepage, the future students
page, the current students
page, the faculty & staff page and the visitors & friends
page. These pages are key pages that
act as directory listings with links to related areas of
the Valencia Web site. The header also has support links
for added
usability.

The breadcrumbs are located just below the header of every page. These are links that form a trail of where the user is located. This allows the user to back track if necessary.

The footer is located at the bottom of every page. These links mirror some of the links in the header and also contains typical links found in all Web site footers such as location and contact information.

Each site's local navigation is found on the left side with links diplayed vertically. Below each local navigation are related links. The related links are links that are external to the local department site. These links can connect to other internal Valencia sites or external sites.

Styles & Colors
Valencia Web site styles and colors are created and maintained by the office of Marketing & Strategic Communications. These are implemented site wide so every page is using a consistent look. To ensure that your site is updated with the rest of the site, you can use the styles that are included in every page. You can also contact Web services or the marketing offices for custom graphics.

Logos
Valencia has a logo that is specifically designed by our marketing office. This logo must be used according to specification. Please read the usage guide before you post the logo on your Web site. Brand Standards and Guidelines

Web Site Statistics / Page Counters

Valencia uses a stats program called SmarterStats. SmarterStats is a powerful and easy-to-use web site analysis
solution. In order to view the stats on your department site, you must request a report.
Once your reports are generated you will be emailed your reports. These reports are generated weekly & monthly
for the life of your site or until you tell us to take
it down.

Valencia does not use page counters. We insist on back end
stats to keep the front end professional.

Valencia Search Engine

To help your placement in the Valencia search engine, your page title and heading at the top of your page play an important role in finding your page. Be sure all of your pages in your Web site have the appropriate title. The page heading can repeat the page title or be more specific. Please send us keywords that will help users find your site. We will place them in the back-end code of your page.

Campus Web Sites

- East, West, Osceola and Winter Park
Campus sites should have a reference to their campus on every page of each department site so the user can easily see which campus the deparment belongs. The front page of the campus site should drill down to their own internal departments before linking back to college-wide pages.

Valencia College provides equal opportunity for educational opportunities and employment to all. Contact the
Office of Organizational Development and Human Resources for information.Under Florida law, e-mail addresses are public records. If you do not want your e-mail address released in response to a public records request, do not send electronic mail to this entity. Instead, contact the appropriate office by phone or in writing.